It took a core group of hardy public safety officers six years of grueling running and swimming events to raise enough money for one brown pelican to fly over the city's beach. The bird, an 8-foot-tall, solid bronze statue of the endangered California brown pelican in flight, was finally dedicated in a sunset ceremony this past weekend. The $20,000 statue was crafted to honor one of the most important figures in the history of ocean safety: Vincent Grigsby Moorhouse, who died in 1992.

Re "Apple bites back," Opinion, Aug. 30 Brian J. Love, an assistant professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, did some math involving 250,000 "potentially applicable patents" to prove the legal system got it wrong in the Apple-Samsung infringement case, but he completely misses the point. This case was not about esoteric technical patents, but rather creative design and interface innovation that made smartphones easy for people to use - innovation so desirable that it actually did "change the world" (or at least the world of smartphones)

Governments want business to spend more on research and development. But even if, through tax breaks and other inducements, the amount of investment in R&D is stepped up, it will not necessarily lead to more innovation. What matters is how well companies manage the innovation process, how they organize and motivate their scientists, how they decide which ideas to pursue and which to discard. In a new book, "The Architecture of Innovation: The Economics of Creative Organizations," Harvard professor Josh Lerner provides an authoritative analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the American system.

An attention-piquing item on today's agenda for the Los Angeles Unified school board: a resolution to allow the operation of 50 newly built schools over the next four years by assorted groups, inside and outside the district. Charters, organized labor, parent organizations and community associations could submit plans to run the schools, with the district picking from among competing proposals.

Who will make risky loans to Southern California entrepreneurs and small business now that Imperial Bancorp is being acquired by Comerica Inc.? The Detroit-based banking company, after all, is a much larger concern that boasts a "strong credit culture." And words like that generally denote a tight-fisted approach to banking that can be hard on small businesses looking for unconventional financing. Or a savvy banker who will spring an overdraft Friday to carry the business through the weekend.

News and notes on L.A. night life: Make that drink with Chartreuse Do the Carthusian monks, who produce Chartreuse, add their secret-recipe herbal liqueur to cocktails? If not, they should now. The Chartreuse Sweet 16 Competition, held at the Doheny on Aug. 10, produced several interesting cocktails by local bar superstars including Damian Windsor (Roger Room), Matty Eggleston (WurstkÃ¼che) and Chris Bostock (the Varnish). Matthew Biancaniello, of the Roosevelt Hotel, eventually won the final round with a bell-pepper cocktail, but it was his Grapes of Wrath drink, made with Concord grapes, lemon juice, agave, Hendricks gin and Chartreuse, that really had us smitten.

Eugene D. Birnbaum, an innovative, self-taught structural engineer who helped design more than 20,000 homes, high-rises, restaurants, bridges and industrial buildings in Southern California during a 50-year career, died May 30 in Los Angeles. He was 83. The cause of death was an infection after hip surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said his son, Michael H. Birnbaum.

Thomas Humphrey, 59, a guitar maker whose innovative techniques helped increase the volume and projection of the instrument, died of a heart attack April 16 at his home in Gardiner, N.Y., said his wife, Martha Costa Humphrey. His best-known model, the Millennium, has a sloped face and raised fingerboard that makes it easier for musicians to reach the high notes. The body shape gives the guitar a large tone. Humphrey had been making conventional guitars for about 15 years when he designed the Millennium in 1985 off a sketch that came to him in a dream, he said on his website.

As a former resident of the RAIN Project (River-dwellers Aid Intercity Network) I wish to express my profound appreciation and gratitude to this exceptional transitional living center for homeless families. An innovative and resourceful program, the RAIN Project (located at Camarillo Airport) is designed to offer more than a temporary hand up. Shelter, food and clothing are provided, of course, but of most importance is the project's primary function of taking the homeless off the street and returning them to the work force and to their own homes.

A saving grace of the the Urban Land Institute conference held here a few weeks ago was that, when tired of the often self-conscious and self-aggrandizing proceedings, one could slip away to explore this architecturally rich city. It was in Chicago that skyscraper construction was perfected, that distinctive commercial, retail and residential design flowered, and both modern architecture and urban planning first asserted themselves.